Spelling rules
የፊደል አጻጻፍ ደንቦች (spelling rules)
English spelling does not always match the sound, but most endings follow a few rules: -s or -es, y to i, doubling a consonant, dropping a silent e. Plus American vs British spelling and the words everyone misspells.
Adding endings: -s, -es, -ed, -ing
Amharic is written as it sounds; English is not, but endings are regular. Learn these six rules and most plurals, -s verbs, past tenses and -ing forms will be right. A vowel is a, e, i, o, u; the other letters are consonants.
In Amharic
አማርኛ እንደሚነበበው ይጻፋል፤ እንግሊዝኛ እንደዚያ አይደለም፤ መጨረሻዎቹ ግን መደበኛ ናቸው። እነዚህን ስድስት ደንቦች ይማሩ፤ አብዛኞቹ ብዙ ቁጥሮች፣ -s ግሦች፣ ያለፈ ጊዜና -ing ቅርጾች ትክክል ይሆናሉ። አናባቢዎች a, e, i, o, u ናቸው፤ ሌሎቹ ፊደላት ተነባቢዎች ናቸው።
| Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| add -es after s, sh, ch, x, z, and often o | bus → buses, wash → washes, watch → watches, box → boxes, go → goes, tomato → tomatoes |
| consonant + y → i + es / ed | city → cities, carry → carried, try → tries |
| vowel + y → just add | day → days, play → played, key → keys |
| one vowel + one consonant, stressed: double it | stop → stopped, run → running, plan → planned, big → bigger |
| silent e: drop it before -ing / -ed | make → making, live → lived, drive → driving |
| -ie → -y before -ing | lie → lying, die → dying, tie → tying |
| -f / -fe → -ves (many nouns) | knife → knives, wife → wives, half → halves |
- Do not double w, x or y: fix → fixed, play → playing, snow → snowing.
- Do not double when the stress is not on the last part: visit → visited, open → opened. (British doubles l: travelled; American does not: traveled.)
- Keep the y before -ing: study → studying, carry → carrying.
- Keep the e when the ending starts with a consonant: use → useful, safe → safety, care → careful.
- She watches the children while I am shopping.
- We planned the trip, but the flight was cancelled.
- My son is writing his homework now.
- The two cities are about four hours apart.
- He is lying on the sofa because he is tired.
i before e, -ful, -ly, and American vs British
The old rule “i before e, except after c” works for many words (believe, piece, receipt, ceiling) but has exceptions (their, weird, neighbour). The ending -ful has one l (helpful, beautiful); add -ly to make an adverb (careful → carefully, quick → quickly). American and British English spell some words differently: both are correct, but in the US, forms, job applications and schools expect American spelling.
In Amharic
“i before e, except after c” የሚለው የቆየ ደንብ ለብዙ ቃላት ይሠራል (believe, piece, receipt, ceiling)፤ ግን ልዩነቶች አሉት (their, weird, neighbour)። -ful የሚለው መጨረሻ አንድ l አለው (helpful, beautiful)፤ ተውሳከ ግሥ ለመሥራት -ly ይጨምሩ (careful → carefully, quick → quickly)። የአሜሪካና የእንግሊዝ እንግሊዝኛ አንዳንድ ቃላትን በተለያየ መንገድ ይጽፋሉ፦ ሁለቱም ትክክል ናቸው፤ በአሜሪካ ግን ቅጾች፣ የሥራ ማመልከቻዎችና ትምህርት ቤቶች የአሜሪካን አጻጻፍ ይጠብቃሉ።
| American | British | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| color, neighbor, favorite | colour, neighbour, favourite | -or / -our |
| center, theater, meter | centre, theatre, metre | -er / -re |
| organize, realize, apologize | organise, realise, apologise | -ize / -ise |
| traveled, canceled | travelled, cancelled | one l / two l |
| check (bank), program, tire | cheque, programme, tyre | single words |
| license (noun and verb) | licence (noun), license (verb) | -se / -ce |
- Pick one style in a document and keep it. In a US job application, write color, center, organize.
- -ful has one l: grateful, hopeful. Adding -ly makes two: hopefully, carefully.
- Consonant + y → i before -ly: easy → easily, happy → happily.
- I believe the receipt is in the bag.
- Please drive carefully; the roads are wet.
- The community center is next to the theater.
- She was very helpful at the DMV.
- Luckily, the bus was on time.
30 often misspelled words
These words are misspelled by native speakers too. Spell-check helps, but it will not catch a real word in the wrong place (their for there). Learn them in groups of five and write each one in a sentence.
In Amharic
እነዚህን ቃላት የቋንቋው ተወላጆችም ይሳሳቷቸዋል። የፊደል መፈተሻ ይረዳል፤ ግን በተሳሳተ ቦታ የገባ እውነተኛ ቃልን (their በ there ፋንታ) አይይዝም። በአምስት በአምስት ይማሯቸውና እያንዳንዱን በዓረፍተ ነገር ይጻፉ።
| Word | Word | Word | Word | Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| accommodate | address | appointment | beginning | believe |
| business | calendar | definitely | different | embarrass |
| environment | February | government | grammar | immediately |
| independent | library | necessary | neighbor | occasion |
| occurred | receive | recommend | schedule | separate |
| successful | until | Wednesday | weird | tomorrow |
- Double letters to watch: accommodate (cc, mm), address (dd, ss), recommend (one c, mm), tomorrow (one m, rr), until (one l).
- Silent letters: Wednesday (d), February (first r), government (n), business (i).
- separate has “a rat” in the middle: sep-a-rate. definitely has “finite” in it.
- I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday.
- Please write your address on a separate sheet.
- It is necessary to bring your ID.
- I definitely recommend this restaurant.
- We received the letter from the government in February.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Correct | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I am writing a letter. | write ends in a silent e: drop it and add -ing, no double t. | |
| She studies every night. | Consonant + y: change y to i and add -es. | |
| We stopped at the store. | One vowel + one consonant: double the consonant before -ed. | |
| two babies | Consonant + y → -ies. | |
| I received your email. | i before e, except after c: receive. | |
| Thank you, it was very useful. | -ful always has one l. |
Practice
Each answer is checked as you go, with the reason. Nothing here is saved.
stop + ed = ___
make + ing = ___
Plural of “city”: ___
lie + ing = ___
Plural of “box”:
Which is spelled correctly?
Which is the American spelling?
play + ed = ___
Which is spelled correctly?
careful + ly = ___
Which is the American spelling?
Plural of “knife”: ___